Virginia Light Rolls

Thanksgiving was Monday, and fresh homemade rolls are always on the menu!

This is a recipe I have used before, always turning out deliciously tender rolls. The recipes is designed for the bread machine, but I find it works really nicely by hand. I doubled the recipe to make 24 good sized rolls, a single recipe makes 16.

Virginia Light Rolls
Beth Hespberger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook
makes 16 (double for 24)

1 cup plus 2 tbs warm milk
3 tbs honey
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 large eggs
6 tbs butter
4 1/4 cups white flour*
1 1/2 tsp salt

*I found I needed about 1 cup more flour in the doubled recipe to make it come together, but it was a humid day.

In a large bowl, combine warm milk, honey and yeast. Whisk until frothy. Whisk in eggs and butter, add flour 1 cup at a time.

Turn onto a kneading surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and elastic, tacky, not sticky.

Grease your bowl and return dough ball to it. Let rise about 90 minutes. If the dough seems like it's doubling quickly, degas it lightly by folding it in the bowl and continue the rise.

When it's doubled (or doubled again), turn out on to your kneading surface and degas. Divide the dough into the number of required pieces - I find a digital scale in grams works really well for this purpose. For rounded buns, take the amount of dough you need, flatten it. Pull the edges into the middle, turn the ball over and, with your hand cupped on top, roll the dough ball in a tight circle. Remove your hand and place on a parchment papered cookies sheet. Continue with remaining dough.

Cover rolls with plastic and let rise for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F. When rolls are risen, place sheet in oven and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool.

This, and other yeasty delights, can be found at yeastspotting!